Jeska Linden announced yesterday on the Official Linden Blog that the beta voice feature in Second Life is open for use. Download details here.
I have not had a chance to use the beta tool let, but I am very excited about this. Talking via typing on a keyboard is not a very easy way to communicate in real time. I am confident that adding the voice feature with greatly enhance the experience and be one more step towards a fully immersive experience. The opportunities for how God can use this are limitless. In just the few short weeks that we have had Experience Island I personally have had many conversations with people far from God. I am now more exited about our full launch of LifeChurch.tv Second Life coming April 8th.
Let me know if you have tried out the voice beta… Love to know what you think.
Why Second Life you ask… check this post out from Bobby.
If there is one thing I’ve missed on SL, it’s voice. Until now.
You are right, this is one step closer to full immersion.
I can’t wait to try it.
I think it’s a good addition, however, I don’t think I will use it – just imagine 30 people talking all at once, some in (heavily) accented english, some in italian, a few danish, a couple of french, maybe some hungarians…
Lets not forget that a lot of people in SL are NOT native english speakers, and when they type things it is a bit easier to find out what they want to say.
Bring in accents, dialects and even native speakers can have a hard time.
So, it will be nice in Instant Messages, but I don’t really see the advantage of having voice in a crowded room, where let’s say Deep Purple is playing in the background.
It would be about as enjoyable as in the local disco – zero conversation, and even that done by shouting.
So I am a bit sceptical.
I have tried out the voice beta and it’s pretty darn cool. It does a pretty good job of emulating real life voice proximities; for instance, you can hear quite clearly the person you’re talking to directly, but only faintly hear those that are in the distance. It really does create a more fully immersive environment.
That being said, I agree with the previous comment regarding concerns with crowded, public areas. However, for something like a bible study, small group, or one-on-one conversation, I think voice has incredible potential to help in many ways.